Contact bail



No. animos. Patented Aug. so, |898.

y l L. E. wALKlNs. CUNTAGT RAIL APPLIANCE FR` ELECTRIC BAILWAYS.

(Application led Feb. 2, 1898.) v (No Model.)

l ml-.F

1H: owns PETERS co, PHOTO-uma.. WASHINGTON, u c` i FFIC@ LOUIS E.IVALKINS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN OR TO GEORGE M. JEWETT,OF GLENVILLE, MARYLAND, AND CHARLES N. KING, OF J ER- SEY CITY, NEVJERSEY.

CONTACT-RAIL APPLIANCEFOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 610,008, dated August30, 1898. Application filed February 2, ISQSl Serial No. 668,906. (Nomodel.)

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Springfield, in thecounty of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Running Contact-Rail Appliances forElectricRailways, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to running contactrail appliances for electricrailways, the object of the invention being especially to provide doublerail-conductors having the general location of the third rail, asnowwell known, between the ordinary traclcrails and preferably in aconduit below the surface of the railway, the said double conductorsbeing combined and arranged with a common support therefor by which theone is insulated from the other, each being continuous, and alsoprotected against dirt, snow, water, or any substances falling thereuponto interfere with the contact `therewithof a device having double shoesadapted to run on the separated continuous and insulated conduc tors andcomprised in a device havinga rolling contact and guiding-support on thetop of the aforementioned common support.

The invention consists in the continuous insulated and separated doublecontact-conductors and the peculiarly-constructed common supporttherefor, as hereinafter described and claimed, and in the combinationtherewith of'an underrunning double `trolley or shoe constructed ashereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in whicln- Y Figure1 is a cross-sectional `view of an underground conduit understood asbetween the two track-rails `of a street-railway and showing the doublecontacts,the line and return wires in connection therewith, and thedouble bearing-shoe or trolley. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevationlongitudinally of the same.

A represents the underground conduit supporting therewithin between itstop and bottom the ties a a, which are arranged crosswise at properintervals and which support centrally and longitudinally below the top`slot b the rail B,suitably held in place, the same being formed of ahard, durable, insulating material, having its top of inverted-V formand provided with the sections d d, arranged to overhang the sides ofthe rail in `the manner of eaves7 and having at its apex ltheinVertedV-shaped longitudinally-conltinuous metallic bearing-plate f forthe supportingand guiding roller s of the trolley or double-contact-shoedevice C.

g 7L represent longitudinally-continuous contact-conductors orsupplemental rails having the dovetailed Shanks, these being embedded inthe opposite sides and conned ,to the rail B, which constitutes not onlythe common support for both thereof, but also means for insulating theone from the other. The support-rail B may be constructed of the formsubstantially as shown, with the said contact-conductors g 7L embeddedby their dovetailed portions therein by molding, while the substancefrom which the rail B is in a plastic condition, such substances beingunderstood finally hardening and holding the sections g h immovablytherein.

t' indicates the line feed-wire, and j indicates the line return-wire',both having connection, respectively, with the continuouscontact-conductors by the bond-wires i2 j? The trolley device C consistsof a body or holder m, whereby it is adapted to be sustainedpendentbelow the car-body-or the cartruck, the same havinglaterally-extending members in pairs, as indicated at 'n n, which areperforated and through which pass the dependent stems or rods o o, thesurrounding springs p exerting a downward pressure against the members nof the trolley-support. The said trolley-support is provided with the`forward and rearward yokes q, journaled within which are the groovedrollers s, adapted to run on the angular Wear-plate f on the top of theinsulating and supporting rail B, aforesaid. y y l represents theoppositely-disposed shoes or trolley-contacts arranged in the form ofbeams to bear sidewise against the aforesaid contact-conductors g h,they being respecn tively carried by the depending arms u, pivotallyhung in pairs to the lower portion of IOO the trolley-support fm. Thesaid trolley-support has depending below each side thereof, preferablyat its middle, the rigid arm between each of which and a portion of thebeam-shoe or contact member if is interposed a spring y.

The trolley device is susceptible of vertical movements against ayielding downward pressure, and it has centrally and vertically withinthe top of the supporting-body m the vertical socket z, in which playsthe depending guide-post r, which is sustained by the car-body ortruck-frame.

One of the shoes t may be carried upwardly by wire 152 through thecenter of the trolleysupport m and through the post r, which parts maybe tubular,`to connection with the motor, while the return current maybe brought by a similarly-disposed Wire t3 back from connection with themotor to the other contact-shoe.

Should anything fall down through conduit-slot onto the top of thesupport-rail B, it would, by reason of the downwardly-sloping andoverhanging guard-sections d d, be downwardly directed and conveyed tofall into the bottom of the conduit, or, in any event, be prevented fromlodging on the continuous contact-conductors g or 7i, on which theopposite beam-shoes of the double trolley device have spring-pressurebearing contact.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with the support-rail B of insulating materialprovided at opposite sides with the contin nous lon gitudinally-rangingmetallic contact-conductors, of a doubleshoe trolley device consistingof a depending trolley-support m having a roller-carrying yoke to run onthe top of the support-rail and tallic contact-conductors which arebonded to said feed and return wire, and having an inverted -V- shapedtop formation with the eaves overhanging said contact-conductors, andprovided at its top with the angular wearplate, of the trolley device Cconsisting of the downwardly spring-pressed support m having at itsforward andrearward ends the yokes q q with V-shaped rollers journaledtherein to run on the angular wear-plate of said rail and provided withthe downwardly-depending rigidly-supported bars a: at opposite sides,the pivoted supporting-bars u u carrying the contact-shoes t t and thesprings y y interposed between said depending barsand the shoes, allsubstantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this'22d day of December, 1897.

LOUIS E. VALKINS.

Witnesses:

WM. S. BELLows, 'M. A. CAMPBELL.

